RIP Corky
Acclaimed Texas music writer and critic Michael Corcoran dies at 68
Michael Corcoran, RIP
Texas music writer Michael "Corky" Corcoran, who was a critic for publications including the Austin Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News, has died. He was 68.
His son posted the news of his death on his Facebook page, stating, "This is Jack Corcoran, Michael’s son. My father has passed away. Funeral services to be announced in the coming days. I know my father touched a lot of lives, and we are going to plan the biggest send off we can for him. A true badass has left the planet."
UPDATE 7-12-2024: A memorial service and musical showcase will be held on Monday, July 15 at Antone's, 305 E. 5th St. Austin. Doors are at 1:30 pm, the Memorial Service is at 2 pm, and a Michael Corcoran Memorial Showcase begins 4 pm Performers include: Shinyribs, The Jones Family Singers, Ramsay Midwood, Eve Monsees, Kelly Willis, Kathy McCarty, Jon Dee Graham, Jack Henry Corcoran, Britt Daniel, Shoulders, The Rite Flyers, Courtney Santana, Tameca Jones, and Wild Seeds. There is no admission charge and this is not a ticketed event. First-come, first admitted. A suggested donation of $20 at the door will be appreciated. Proceeds to benefit the SIMS Foundation. A larger memorial concert will be announced in the coming months.
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Corcoran was a sharp and witty writer who frequently wrote in first person, but always managed to make that first person feel universal.
His career as a music writer in Texas ran parallel to Austin's music scene and to the SXSW music conference, which he covered annually for many years.
He graduated from high school in Hawaii, often bragging that he graduated from the same high school as Bette Midler, but his family's military service meant he went to four different high schools including Mountain Home Air Force Base High in southwest Idaho. He began writing about music when he was 19, for a publication in Honolulu.
He had bylines in many major magazines including National Lampoon, Creem, and Rolling Stone, and served as pop music critic for both the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman, earning awards such as Cox Newspapers' “Writer of the Year” in 1996, and the Austin Music Award for best music critic in 2018.
He was vastly creative, coining many great lines and phrases (such as calling Austin "the little town with the big guest list"), and amusingly self-referential, making his foibles part of the story, as if he were writing about someone else — and always just fun to read. A story by him had an elevating effect, as noted by Texas musician Ray Wylie Hubbard, who said:
"Michael, you may not be aware of how much it meant to me to have you write about my albums back then. I read every review you wrote in those days, not just mine but all of 'em as you wrote with a truth that could not be questioned. Yours was the review over all others I wanted so much to be good cause you wrote with a pen dipped in blood and fire as well as unrepentant coolness. I do thank you for being one of those condemned by the gods to write."
He left the Statesman in 2011 as part of a buyout — a departure that prompted fellow writer and friend Andy Langer to say, "That you never knew which Corcoran would emerge made him a polarizing figure, yet this much is not debatable: His retirement from the Statesman marks the end of an era in Austin music journalism. His legacy — and the unlikeliness that anyone comes along remotely like him — boils down to attitude."
After leaving the paper, he devoted his time to passion projects and historical work, including books such as Ghost Notes: Pioneering Spirts of Texas Music, and All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music, as well as CD liner notes for figures such as 1920’s Texas gospel greats Arizona Dranes and Washington Phillips (both nominated for Grammys), and the liner notes for Sam Cooke boxed set The Complete Keen Years 1957-1960.
He also covered sports, music, popular culture, true crime, including stories on college football for CultureMap.
Corcoran is survived by his ex-wife Victoria and son Jack Corcoran.
